


Roses Under My Nails

by mareeogl



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Anxiety, Depression, Fluff, Gay, Hallucinations, M/M, Mental Hospital, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2016-07-12
Packaged: 2018-07-23 13:19:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7464846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mareeogl/pseuds/mareeogl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh meets Tyler at a mental hospital. They think the world of each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. My Angel

**Author's Note:**

> this is gay ok

Josh's hands always shook. He couldn't keep still, never ever. Darkness would creep in if he did. He found the easiest way was to drum. Pencils, pens, any stick-like object. He was prone to tugging at his cotton candy hair, that was often matted to his forehead. He had an affinity for red eyeshadow. Messy too. When they took him to the hospital for pulling out his hair, they found he had high levels of anxiety and ADHD. They decided he would have to be mental hospital. Great. He was restrained, like a damned crazy person. Josh knew he wasn't crazy. He just needed to move. Do things. Drum. His room mate was a boy around his age, with tan skin, brown eyes and short, brown hair. It said on the door that he had depression, anxiety, and hallucinations. So maybe they could relate to each other. The boy was in the corner, in a chair, curled up. "Hi." He croaked out.

"Hey, I'm Josh." The boy wouldn't stop staring at the mop of hair on his head. He had scratches all over his face. He couldn't help but notice how cute he was. Oh, Josh is gay. So gay. He hoped Tyler was too, but if not, it's okay. Josh was nice, a ray of sunshine. 

"Tyler, Joseph." He waved softly, barely a nod, still staring. He had thick eyebrows.

"So.. I take it you like my hair? You've kind of been staring.." Josh laughed and sat on the bed. Then they strapped him in. "Holy hell- what?" They held his arm still and injected something. 

"It's your first dose, they always tie you up." Tyler said as the doctors left, having untied Josh. "Even if you don't need to be. I learned the hard way." Somewhere in that span of time he had gotten on his own bed, scratching at his face a little. "Dang eyes.." He whispered. Cute.

"So why are you here? Is that rude to ask? I don't know the lingo."

"Yeah, they say newcomers have a certain smell. They're right. It's cool, but don't ask anyone else unless they ask you first." Tyler smiled gently, and wow. Josh was in love.

Josh could barely keep his eyes open. "Is it normal to pass out..?" Tyler was now leaning over him. "Yeah. I'll wake you up for lunch." He smiled. Josh's eyes closed slowly.

 

Tyler wanted to perch like an eagle and watch over him. This was him. He made him see flowers and sunshine. Not gore and decay. Josh and his flower pink hair, those cute, squinting eyes. It made his chest tight. He didn't feel the eyes right now. He always felt the eyes. It was a little empty without them. He watched the sleeping form, feeling a new feeling in his chest. 

Tyler thought he might be dead. He poked him first in the arm. Then the chest. Then repeatedly in the face. "Josh!! Joshjoshjosh! Wake up!! Sleepy!" He shook him. 

"Huh Ty..?" Tyler's chest tightened. 'Ty?? Holy heck. He called me Ty!!' Tyler was freaking out a little bit in his mind. He had a grin on his face. "It's lunchtime, my friend." He got up and waited by the door for him.

 

Tyler waited by the door for him. Josh couldn't have been happier. He hasn't even been out of his room and he's already got a friend. It's a good day. 

The people at lunch are scary. They're nothing like the duo, in Josh's head. Screaming and spitting and they look at him so vicious. Tyler sat at a table with a group. 3 girls and 4 guys, all scary looking. "All my friends are heathens. Take it slow. Okay?" Tyler said and Josh nodded. 

"Damn right we are~" the blonde girl purred. They were all talking amongst themselves as Josh scooted his chair closer and closer to Tyler. Soon, their scared arms were touching each other, pale against tan. Josh felt electrified, the place where their arms were touching felt like heat and light and sunshine. Maybe things would be okay. The lunch was kinda like middle school cafeteria food, but it was good and had its own charms to it. 

They got a mixed assortment of fruits and they tasted like what Tyler imagined Josh to taste like. He imagined being with Josh. His body, what it looked like. What did Josh look like under the baggy uniform? Why did Tyler want to know so bad it made rose sprout underneath his fingernails? And he felt horns on his head. He was learning they weren't real, but he couldn't understand how people didn't see them too. Flowers were the most recent thing to appear. They came in with Josh. They came in like a flood. He was grateful that they had no rules against relationships between patients. Usually it was for the better. They helped. Tyler couldn't stop seeing flowers. They covered everyone but Josh. Josh glowed, like an angel. 

Josh was his angel.


	2. Golden Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they perform. josh is shaken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ohhhh fall out boy <3

Recreation was Josh's favorite time of day. He and Tyler did music together. They had 3 different sized drums and two different colored drum sticks. They had an untuned ukulele, that Tyler quickly tuned, and hid from everyone else. 

"So... Do you like Fall Out Boy?" Tyler asked shyly. Josh melted and seeped into the floorboards.

"Yeah- 'What a Catch, Donnie' was the first song I learned on drums.." Flowers engulfed Josh in Tyler's head, as he grinned and bared his teeth like a tiger. Tyler blushed at it. 

"So we could do that? I relate... I relate to it." Tyler looked down, smiling barely. Josh wanted to kiss him and pin him to the wall and fu-- never mind that for now. 

"I've got troubled thoughts and a self esteem to match, what a catch

What a catch." Tyler sang, and Josh kicked in with the drums. 

"You'll never catch us, so just let me be  
Said I'll be fine to the hospital, or American Embassy...  
Miss Flack, said I still want you back, yeah, I still want you back..."  
Soon a crowd grew around the two, the deranged and the evil. Tyler felt strong. With Josh by his side he felt invincible. "Give it up for my good buddy Josh on drums!" He said and they cheered for him. Cheered! 

Josh was on cloud 9. People were cheering for them, for him! He drummed it out and when he finished they got up and bowed, and the whole room cheered. They left after it was over and they hadn't stop holding hands, even if Josh was jittery.

Tyler could die right now and he would be happy. He was growing antlers and throwing up the color pink. His hands and neck were covered in black roses. Roses were his favorite. They were lovely to him. The color could range vastly and they reminded him of Josh. 

Josh's hands were shaking again, when they were in their room together. He couldn't focus and he was having an anxiety attack. He was supposed to alert a nurse but he was sure he could deal with it on his own. He always thought that way. Tyler was hanging out outside the room, with some other guy he couldn't remember the name of but it made him jealous. Josh felt angry and scared. He felt his whole world restrict and rattle him around. He was shaking badly. He couldn't move, breathe. He couldn't hold anything in his hands. "Someone-!!" He burst out of the room, in search for anyone. The hall was empty. He stumbled his way to the recreation area. "Ty- ty- help-" he managed, crying.

Tyler felt ice. Ice in his lungs and the color red. "Nurse!" He called, dripping in black. He was covered in what felt like tar. His sunshine, his delicate flower was wilting. The nurses managed him back to his room and Tyler followed worriedly. The nurses were kind but he could see the masks on their faces, friendly smiles masking annoyed looks, hiding what they were. Some were really good. Truly nice. They others had horns. He was looming over Josh, eyes unblinking, staring at his boy. He held his hand as it shook. "I'm here, Josh-" he said, in a daze. 

Josh passed out five minutes later, Tyler above him with a halo above him. 

Tyler wouldn't do it. Couldn't. He couldn't leave his side. Josh was his pretty boy, his darling. It was amazing how fast and he deeply devoted he was to the pink haired, anxiety ridden drummer. Tyler felt shadows grow up his arms and on his face in worry for his Josh. He kissed his cheek and fell asleep in the chair, laying his head on Josh's bed.

Josh awoke 6 hours later to see the golden boy asleep. With a little trouble, he pulled him onto the bed. His cute pink lips, tan skin.. Josh couldn't help himself. He stole a kiss from Tyler. 

This time, Tyler was Josh's angel.


End file.
